Happy Monday, I guess. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I certainly did.
Saturday we went to the New England Six Flags. Personally, I'm not a big fan of amusement parks, but it was nice to hang out with the guys. We did a vlog from Nik's phone (seeing as my phone was broken by someone in the marching band who will go unnamed...), but I haven't received the edited edition as of yet, so we'll see if that ever gets done.
Speaking of the Nerds Under Fire crew, I'm working on putting together a new art page composed of stuff not only from Nik, but also myself, and my girlfriend Tiana (mostly her). Many of you have seen both Nik's and my own work, but Tiana is in her own league, so she will definitely dominate the page.
You'll also be able to buy Tiana's prints on an Etsy store that is currently in the works. This is unaffiliated with Nerds Under Fire, but I thought I would give her a plug, anyway. She's an incredible artist, and I'll be sure to post a link to her store as soon as I can. Definitely something to check out. She's amazingly creative and does some incredible stuff.
Anyway, back to Six Flags, we had a pretty good time. The park wasn't anything super special, but the rides were pretty good. Although I must say, I spent a long time looking for a decent souvenir and I could not find anything. I didn't expect much, but come on. Just incredibly stupid stuff. Granted they had awesome DC merchandise, because they have a deal with DC Comics, but what I wanted was something from Six Flags, which was weird. However, if you want to buy cool DC superhero stuff, Six Flags is the place to go.
The only real disappointment of the trip was that most of the pictures I took didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. There are one or two decent ones, but of three rolls of film that's not very good. This is mostly because I kept putting off putting on the UV filter, or the 80b. Either of those would have helped a lot, and I'm really irritated that I wasted $30 on those prints.
The moral of the story is, I really freaking need a digital camera because I simply do not have the money to be developing film all the time. Hahaha.
Hope you guys have a great start of the week. I'll check back in with you on Wednesday.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
Monday, September 29, 2014
Friday, September 26, 2014
I'm Shipping Up To Boston
Hi guys! Joe, here. Checking in from the Marriot just outside Boston, Massachussets. I'm sitting in my hotel room right now, we just got back from The Blue Man Group (more on them later).
Thursday was fairly uneventful. Boring, even. Made better by the fact that I was leaving the next day for our band trip. We left at 7:30 this morning and got in around 2ish, maybe? I'm not totally sure. After hanging out for a bit, we went on one of the famous Boston Duck Tours. Other than some great photo ops, though, it wasn't super interesting. I did get some fantastic water shots, so all in all worth it.
I'm going to take a tangent here and say I hate cynics who have to lump all of humanity together. I won't name any names, but a certain person I'm sharing a hotel room with feels it nescessary to mention that he has no faith in humanity at least three times every day and I swear I am this close to throwing him out our third story window.
Anyway, after the duck tours we went to a "hibachi" restaurant called Fire and Ice. The idea is, you og up to this buffet style area and pick out your food (all raw) and take it over to be cooked. An interesting idea, but it's pretty unsanitary. The food was okay, not the best hibachi I've ever had by a long shot. The shrimp particularly was quite mediocre. Regardless, I wouldsay that it was fairly decent meal that wasn't too expensive.
After Fire and Ice we went to see the Blue Man Group perform. Which was...interesting. Fairly funny and entertaining, but I really didn't see the huge appeal of it. It was really just a lot of random stuff. Lots of three guys in blue suits throwing food. The little music that there was was extremely good, but I expected more. I think if they had more of that and less of the weird skits I may have enjoyed it a bit more.
Tomorrow we're off to Six Flags. Personally, I would rather walk the city and get more pictures,but it should be a fun time. I have to remember to buy something for Tiana there. Hopefully writing it down will help me remember.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The Closest Shave You'll Ever Know
Wednesday is here, and that means just one more day until I'm off to Boston for my last marching band trip ever. Sad, but I can't wait.
As I write this, I've finally sat down to watch Johny Depp's Sweeney Todd and I must say,I had no ideaeither he nor Alan Rickman had the voices they do. They really are fabulous together. It's an excellent movie. I've never completely figured it out, but I absolutely adore dark characters. The Phantom, Dr. Horrible, Sweeney Todd, they are all some of my absolute favorite characters in all of fiction. Interestingly, they're all from musicals, which probably helps seeing as the villains/dark protagonists always have the absolute best songs (come on, do you mean to tell me that Music of the Night or My Friends aren't a couple of the best songs ever written?). Although, I must say, Jamie Bower is the real vocal star in this film. What a voice on that one. Absolutely astounding.
Anyway, I'm about an hour in, and the chemistry between Depp and Carter is absolutely incredible. I will absolutely have to look for more with the two of them working together. One thing I don't understand, though, is whether or not he's killing everyone? It seems like that, but that would be stupid.
I'll be singing these songs for weeks-I'm certain to sound like a bloody psychopath, Although, to be completely honest, that won't be a huge change from what I usually sound like.
Before I change gears, when the homeless woman called Mrs. Lovett a witch, I about died. Greatest happy accident ever.
In other news, I caught wind of an incredible opportunity today. Tiana told me about a Europe trip run by teachers at the school. It's not through the school, but the teachers run it still. The only issue, is it cost about $3,000.
On the bright side, I think that if I pick up a few more hours at the restaurant, I shold be able to afford it, although I may have to cut out buying the new Super Smash Bros for a while. Completely worth it, though. We fly into Milan, and visit several villages in Italy and the French Riviera before going to Madrid, which we fly out of. Granted, it's only 9 days, but I've always wanted to go to Europe, so I'm incredibly excited-especially to be able to go with Tiana. It will be an amazing chance.
I think that's all for now. I'll check back in on Friday (from Boston!).
Oh, also-I will never trust a barber again.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
As I write this, I've finally sat down to watch Johny Depp's Sweeney Todd and I must say,I had no ideaeither he nor Alan Rickman had the voices they do. They really are fabulous together. It's an excellent movie. I've never completely figured it out, but I absolutely adore dark characters. The Phantom, Dr. Horrible, Sweeney Todd, they are all some of my absolute favorite characters in all of fiction. Interestingly, they're all from musicals, which probably helps seeing as the villains/dark protagonists always have the absolute best songs (come on, do you mean to tell me that Music of the Night or My Friends aren't a couple of the best songs ever written?). Although, I must say, Jamie Bower is the real vocal star in this film. What a voice on that one. Absolutely astounding.
Anyway, I'm about an hour in, and the chemistry between Depp and Carter is absolutely incredible. I will absolutely have to look for more with the two of them working together. One thing I don't understand, though, is whether or not he's killing everyone? It seems like that, but that would be stupid.
I'll be singing these songs for weeks-I'm certain to sound like a bloody psychopath, Although, to be completely honest, that won't be a huge change from what I usually sound like.
Before I change gears, when the homeless woman called Mrs. Lovett a witch, I about died. Greatest happy accident ever.
In other news, I caught wind of an incredible opportunity today. Tiana told me about a Europe trip run by teachers at the school. It's not through the school, but the teachers run it still. The only issue, is it cost about $3,000.
On the bright side, I think that if I pick up a few more hours at the restaurant, I shold be able to afford it, although I may have to cut out buying the new Super Smash Bros for a while. Completely worth it, though. We fly into Milan, and visit several villages in Italy and the French Riviera before going to Madrid, which we fly out of. Granted, it's only 9 days, but I've always wanted to go to Europe, so I'm incredibly excited-especially to be able to go with Tiana. It will be an amazing chance.
I think that's all for now. I'll check back in on Friday (from Boston!).
Oh, also-I will never trust a barber again.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
Monday, September 22, 2014
A Little Sore
Hi everybody. So I've been gone for a couple weeks, and if you follow www.nerdunderfire.com you know it's because my computer sort of wet the bed. Luckily, I've gotten my old one fixed and tuned up so you can expect everything to slide back into place.
I had a bit of an experience yesterday. Not only was I in a car crash, I walked away unscathed. My friends and I were on a road trip up to some waterfalls to go hiking and do some photography shots, when my friend made a left turn, not seeing the oncoming car.
I was lucky enough to be in the passenger seat.
Thank God, I saw the car coming and unleashed a string of obscenities the likes of which have never been heard on this earth just in time to make my friend stop the car. Both airbags deployed, but thankfully the most severe injury was my friend who was driving who got his hand on what we think were his keys. Even my iPad was okay.
To be honest, I feel like I should be a bit more worried. I could have died if we hadn't stopped quickly. At the very least I would have been injured pretty badly. But I'm not. In fact, I shook the whole thing off pretty fast. Which is more than I can say for the guy in the other car. Man, he was livid. I understand that he might be a bit mad, it was our fault, and we did damage his car, but they're called accidents for a reason, right? There really is no reason to be cursing me out while I just try to make sure everyone's okay.
His friend was funny (in the way giant dicks can be). He seemed to have it in his head that we were gonna run away or something. He kept yelling at us not to move and to stay next to the car. Like we're just gonna run off into the woods or something. What a dumbass.
Anyway, it's time to move on. I'm just glad the whole thing is over. The car is probably totaled, but my friend is only getting a few points on his license, and he's going to appear in court and see if he can't get the charge reduced a bit. I think everyone should just be thankful no one was hurt and move on. I got a few pictures after the fact so maybe I'll put those up one of these days.
On a slightly happier tone, we had our first marching band competition of the season last Saturday in Corning. Our visual was absolute shit, but the music was fantastic. I mean, we just sounded great, and I loved every second of it. We took first place in our division (Small School 3) with a score of 69. That's 3 or 4 higher than the second place band, if I remember correctly.
Glad to see we're starting my last year off on the right note (get it? Huh? Get it?). It really bodes well for Dome this year.
See you all on Wednesday.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
I had a bit of an experience yesterday. Not only was I in a car crash, I walked away unscathed. My friends and I were on a road trip up to some waterfalls to go hiking and do some photography shots, when my friend made a left turn, not seeing the oncoming car.
I was lucky enough to be in the passenger seat.
Thank God, I saw the car coming and unleashed a string of obscenities the likes of which have never been heard on this earth just in time to make my friend stop the car. Both airbags deployed, but thankfully the most severe injury was my friend who was driving who got his hand on what we think were his keys. Even my iPad was okay.
To be honest, I feel like I should be a bit more worried. I could have died if we hadn't stopped quickly. At the very least I would have been injured pretty badly. But I'm not. In fact, I shook the whole thing off pretty fast. Which is more than I can say for the guy in the other car. Man, he was livid. I understand that he might be a bit mad, it was our fault, and we did damage his car, but they're called accidents for a reason, right? There really is no reason to be cursing me out while I just try to make sure everyone's okay.
His friend was funny (in the way giant dicks can be). He seemed to have it in his head that we were gonna run away or something. He kept yelling at us not to move and to stay next to the car. Like we're just gonna run off into the woods or something. What a dumbass.
Anyway, it's time to move on. I'm just glad the whole thing is over. The car is probably totaled, but my friend is only getting a few points on his license, and he's going to appear in court and see if he can't get the charge reduced a bit. I think everyone should just be thankful no one was hurt and move on. I got a few pictures after the fact so maybe I'll put those up one of these days.
On a slightly happier tone, we had our first marching band competition of the season last Saturday in Corning. Our visual was absolute shit, but the music was fantastic. I mean, we just sounded great, and I loved every second of it. We took first place in our division (Small School 3) with a score of 69. That's 3 or 4 higher than the second place band, if I remember correctly.
Glad to see we're starting my last year off on the right note (get it? Huh? Get it?). It really bodes well for Dome this year.
See you all on Wednesday.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
Friday, September 5, 2014
Misleading Assignments
That's it! Here we are, Friday has come at last, and that means I have officially survived my first week as a senior! Crazy to think how far I've come.
The past two days have been pretty busy. It was all standard stuff during the day Thursday (except for AP Physics, but I'll get to that in a minute), however, I had to work that night-sadly missing marching band practice the night before our first football game.
Now as I may or may not have stated before, I recently left my job as a grocery store clerk to be a busser at an upper class restaurant a little farther from my house. It's fairly easy work, and both the tips and hours are fabulous, so I'm loving it so far. Anyway, I was working last night, and we close at 9:30 on Thursday nights (or at least we stop accepting walk ins). I'm in the back cleaning the bread station and my manager is up front about to lock the doors when these door ginormous assholes walk in.
I would like to take this moment to clarify, yes, they were huge asses. And yes, like that South Park episode.
Anyway, they sat down and of course got appetizers, then entrees, and then OF COURSE they had to have desert. Long story short, it turns out they've done this more than once (most likely so they can have the restaurant to themselves) and I didn't get home until 11:30. Then I still had to do my homework.
And while we're on the subject of homework, let me say that the AP Physics homework is SUPER misleading. He assigned two problems the first night. Just two. It took an hour. Why, you ask? Because they are then further divided int 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, etc. It was insane. So my brain was pretty much fried by the time I finally went to bed.
Today was a bit better just in general. Most of my classes are fairly easy, and with the exception of physics, they haven't really assigned much homework tonight.
I went to the football game with the marching band tonight, and we did fairly well, it being our first public performance. Not great, mind you, but good enough. I think with a little work we could really polish this turd up and make 'er shine!
And now it is the late so I am the sleep.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
The past two days have been pretty busy. It was all standard stuff during the day Thursday (except for AP Physics, but I'll get to that in a minute), however, I had to work that night-sadly missing marching band practice the night before our first football game.
Now as I may or may not have stated before, I recently left my job as a grocery store clerk to be a busser at an upper class restaurant a little farther from my house. It's fairly easy work, and both the tips and hours are fabulous, so I'm loving it so far. Anyway, I was working last night, and we close at 9:30 on Thursday nights (or at least we stop accepting walk ins). I'm in the back cleaning the bread station and my manager is up front about to lock the doors when these door ginormous assholes walk in.
I would like to take this moment to clarify, yes, they were huge asses. And yes, like that South Park episode.
Anyway, they sat down and of course got appetizers, then entrees, and then OF COURSE they had to have desert. Long story short, it turns out they've done this more than once (most likely so they can have the restaurant to themselves) and I didn't get home until 11:30. Then I still had to do my homework.
And while we're on the subject of homework, let me say that the AP Physics homework is SUPER misleading. He assigned two problems the first night. Just two. It took an hour. Why, you ask? Because they are then further divided int 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, etc. It was insane. So my brain was pretty much fried by the time I finally went to bed.
Today was a bit better just in general. Most of my classes are fairly easy, and with the exception of physics, they haven't really assigned much homework tonight.
I went to the football game with the marching band tonight, and we did fairly well, it being our first public performance. Not great, mind you, but good enough. I think with a little work we could really polish this turd up and make 'er shine!
And now it is the late so I am the sleep.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Back to Work
Okay guys, here's the deal. New school year, new me. I'm going to get back on track with this blog. That means updates three times a week for the foreseeable future. Senior year is going to be a ufn one and I really want this documented.
As I said, it's my last year of high school, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm talking all APs this year which means I don't have to deal with as many morons, and the classes I'm taking are pretty great. I think I'm probably most excited about taking AP Computer Science. Most of my friends have it with me, so I think we'll have a good time in there.
In some other news, the marching band show is really starting to come together. If we can pull off the music, I think we have a real shot at taking home the championship title this year, which would be really great for my senior year. Also on the marching front, I have officially applied to be a baritone in the White Sabers Drum and Bugle Corps. They're located in Dansville, NY, which is a bit of a drive, but they are an excellent DCA corps. Long term, of course, I want to audition for the Cadets, but this will be a good opportunity for me to better learn my instrument, seeing as I've never really played brass before.
I recently ordered Ni No Kuni for the DS from Amazon. I found myself with a hankering for a good JRPG, and there just isn't any good ones out in the US so I was forced to turn my head over to the Promised Land of role playing games where I found this little gem for somewhere around $20 (that's including shipping, so pretty low for an import game). That won't be here until October or so (thanks, Amazon), so I'll have to report back when I finally get it.
For those of you who haven't been watching the new season of Doctor Who as it premiers YOU NEED TO BE DOING THAT. So far, Peter Capaldi has completely blown me away as the Doctor. They've done a complete 180 with the character and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The only thing missing now is the classic "I am the Doctor" monologue, which doesn't seem to be quite Capaldi's style, but damn it, I have got to have it at least once. I don't want to take the time to review each individual episode, however so my plan is to do a full season review once it's completed, so watch out for that,
Finally, don't forget to check out my new Pokemon podcast-Pokecast. This week I was joined by Nik Walz, and it was a really great show. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, the Xbox Podcast Directory, and of course, nerdsunderfire.com
Stay nerdy, my friends.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
As I said, it's my last year of high school, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm talking all APs this year which means I don't have to deal with as many morons, and the classes I'm taking are pretty great. I think I'm probably most excited about taking AP Computer Science. Most of my friends have it with me, so I think we'll have a good time in there.
In some other news, the marching band show is really starting to come together. If we can pull off the music, I think we have a real shot at taking home the championship title this year, which would be really great for my senior year. Also on the marching front, I have officially applied to be a baritone in the White Sabers Drum and Bugle Corps. They're located in Dansville, NY, which is a bit of a drive, but they are an excellent DCA corps. Long term, of course, I want to audition for the Cadets, but this will be a good opportunity for me to better learn my instrument, seeing as I've never really played brass before.
I recently ordered Ni No Kuni for the DS from Amazon. I found myself with a hankering for a good JRPG, and there just isn't any good ones out in the US so I was forced to turn my head over to the Promised Land of role playing games where I found this little gem for somewhere around $20 (that's including shipping, so pretty low for an import game). That won't be here until October or so (thanks, Amazon), so I'll have to report back when I finally get it.
For those of you who haven't been watching the new season of Doctor Who as it premiers YOU NEED TO BE DOING THAT. So far, Peter Capaldi has completely blown me away as the Doctor. They've done a complete 180 with the character and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The only thing missing now is the classic "I am the Doctor" monologue, which doesn't seem to be quite Capaldi's style, but damn it, I have got to have it at least once. I don't want to take the time to review each individual episode, however so my plan is to do a full season review once it's completed, so watch out for that,
Finally, don't forget to check out my new Pokemon podcast-Pokecast. This week I was joined by Nik Walz, and it was a really great show. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, the Xbox Podcast Directory, and of course, nerdsunderfire.com
Stay nerdy, my friends.
Tacos,
Gladdstone
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